Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Mako Eyes ❯ Sacrifice ( Chapter 14 )

Vincent gripped Aneilla's neck as she slammed against the black dragon, both roaring loudly. In the heavens above them, Vincent could see and hear a storm coming in fast. The dark clouds flashed with lightning and rumbled with thunder. Perfect weather for a final battle... he couldn't help but think. Then he was nearly thrown off of Aneilla so he returned to concentrating to the battle at hand. He lifted Cerberus and at a precise moment when Aneilla wasn't in the risk range, he fired at James. He hit the dragon, but the three bullets just grazed his bone tough scales, only causing an irritate twinge that caused him to roar angrily. He tried to swing his tail at Vincent, but Aneilla whipped her head around and sank her fangs into his tail, snarling angrily.

 

Vincent pressed himself low to her neck as the rain began to fall, soaking his hair and cloak in seconds. Aneilla flipped upside down, raking her claws and the spikes on her tail on James's underside. Blood sprayed down on them, being washed away by the rain but not before Vincent felt a slight burning where the silvery-red blood had landed on him. James swooped down onto Aneilla and Vincent fired again at the dragon, causing him to pull back as the bullets ripped through his wing membrane.

 

“You will pay for that, Valentine!” James roared before belching out a wave of blackish-green flames. Aneilla ducked away but she let out a roar of pain as the flames grazed her side, just missing Vincent, who could feel the heat against the back of his legs.

 

He turned back to look at Aneilla at the front and asked, “Are you okay?”

 

“I'll be fine. The flames just missed me, although it does sting,” she replied, turning her head to look at him.

 

Vincent nodded and ducked close to Aneilla as she flipped upwards and twisted her body, rocketing at James and striking him in the side. Her fangs sank into his leg and the black dragon roared with pain. Then, striking like a viper, the black dragon whipped his head around and sank his fangs into Aneilla's neck.

 

Vincent yelled as Aneilla howled with pain, releasing James's leg, but the black didn't release Aneilla. She dug at the black with her claws and her tail, trying to have him release her neck, but he wouldn't let go. Vincent lifted up Cerberus and taking careful aim, he pointed the triple barrels of the gun at the most vulnerable spot on the dragon. He fired and the three bullets penetrated into the black dragon's evilly glowing golden eye.

 

The shriek that came from the black dragon was unworldly, but he released his death grip on Aneilla. Aneilla flew back and Vincent squinted through the rain to see if he could see how much damage James had done. In the next flash of lightning, Vincent stifled a gasp when he saw the ravaged wound in her neck, almost six feet long. “Aneilla…” he whispered.

 

“I'll be alright,” she said wearily and although Vincent knew that she was trying to be strong for him, he could hear the pain in her voice. But she spun around, hanging suspended in the air, facing the black dragon in front of them.

 

“It's over Aneilla...” the black hissed. Vincent could see that the left eye, the eye he shot, was now nothing but a ruined mess in the socket. The dragon glared at them with his remaining eye and said, “I have won.”

 

“You are right about one thing,” Aneilla said, growling softly around her words. “It is over, but you are wrong about the winning part. Look below you...”

 

Vincent looked down and he could see that the WRO and AVALANCHE were driving out James's army, which had been depleted to almost nothing. The Mako Reactors had been shut down, giving no power to the machines or to the rest of the city. Vincent smirked when he realized that the battle on the ground had been won, but then he realized: what about the one in the sky? He knew that Aneilla was still willing to fight, but would her body hold up with her spirit? As he watched, the blood flowed from the wound in her neck, slowly dripping to the ground below.

 

James, looking down below him, hissed unbelievably. “No...” He then lifted his head and roared. “You may have won down there, but I will still crush you and your human lover!” Then the black dragon lunged forward, snarling dangerously. Both dragons slammed into each other and Aneilla slashed at the black with her tail, driving the spikes into his back between his wings. Vincent lifted up Cerberus and fired at James, peppering holes into the dragon's wings, hoping that it would slow him down. Aneilla pushed away from James and flew around the buildings, trying to get momentum and to escape James for just a moment.

 

She suddenly lurched, as if she had caught herself from falling from the sky. Vincent gripped her neck tightly and looked at her. “Aneilla?” he asked. “What's wrong?”

 

“This wound... it's... it's sapping my strength...” Aneilla groaned as she caught herself again. “I don't know how much longer I can go Vince...”

 

“Hang in there…” Vincent said softly, looking where James was tailing them on the other side of the buildings. “Aneilla, what is a dragon's fatal spot?”

 

“The heart...” she replied. “But it's hard to get to because of the scales that protect it.”

 

“But if you got under the scales, what's there?”

 

“Skin as fragile as a human's...”

 

“Aneilla, I'm going to need you to throw me at James, so I can get to his chest. He won't be able to get me at that angle with his fangs…”

 

“But his claws...”

 

“I'll make it quick, before he realizes what I'm doing. I'll lift up the scales over his heart and call out Chaos enough so I can drive my gauntleted hand into his heart. Then you use Dragon Fire to finish him off… can you do that?”

 

“I think so... it'll take the rest of the strength I have left...”

 

“As long as you don't die…” Vincent said softly. Aneilla didn't reply, so Vincent stood, holstering Cerberus before moving down the length of Aneilla's back and getting to her tail tip. “Alright!” he called out to her, knowing that she could hear him. “NOW!”

 

With a roar, Aneilla came around the building, cutting James off. She flung Vincent off her tail as he leapt at the black dragon, both momentums adding up, allowing him to fly right at the dragon. He hit the black's chest and gripped the scales tightly with one hand, feeling them dig through his leather gloves into his flesh. Using that hand, he pulled up the scales and at the same time called upon the power of Chaos. “This is for you Aneilla…” he said softly, and then he plunged his glowing red gauntleted hand through the thin membrane on the under skin and into the dragon's chest.

 

Bright red light exploded from the chest wound and James screamed with pain as Vincent sliced through his heart. Vincent pulled his hand out and shoved off the dragon, free falling as the black above him suddenly burst into ruby red flames. The dragon's dying screams vibrated over Midgar as the flames ate at his body.

 

“Vincent!” he heard Aneilla scream and suddenly, the red dragon twisted around under him, catching him and stopping his free fall. Holding him close to her, the dragon continued to fall as her wings refused to hold her anymore. Vincent pressed himself against her smooth scales as they crashed into the center of Midgar, sending rock and debris all around.

 

Vincent was hurtled from Aneilla and landed a few feet away with a painful thud, the wind knocked out of him. He blacked out for a moment and then lay there, regaining his breath. All he could hear was silence and the heavy fall of the rain. Finally, he pushed himself up to his hands and knees, spitting blood from his mouth. He ached all over, but from the smell of burning dragon, he knew that it was over. “Aneilla, you did it…” Vincent said, turning to where she landed. “James is…” His words died in his throat when he saw that Aneilla hadn't moved. “Oh no…” Grunting, Vincent pushed himself to his feet and limped over to the fallen dragon. The last of his strength gave out when he reached her head. “Aneilla…” he whispered, reaching out with his gloved hand to stroke above her closed eye.

 

Aneilla moaned and she opened her eyes. She sighed happily when she saw Vincent. “You're okay...” she said softly.

 

“Never mind me, Aneilla. Just hold on… we'll get help.”

 

“Vince, you know that I'm not going to make it... the last of my strength is spent...”

 

“No…” Vincent said softly, shaking his head. He began fumbling in his cloak and pockets, finally pulling out a Restore Materia. “I can heal you…”

 

“Vincent, no...” Aneilla said, closing her eyes painfully. “Even Chaos doesn't enough strength that's needed to heal me...”

 

“Aneilla, please don't die…” Vincent said, leaning close to her, feeling tears fall down his face with the rain. He never allowed his emotions to show, never allowed himself to beg, but the thought of Aneilla dying caused him to throw all of that away, to lower the walls he had placed around his heart years ago. “Please…”

 

“I'm sorry... Vincent... I... love you...” Aneilla heaved another painful breath, but she didn't stop. “I think I was in love with you the first time I laid eyes on you... it was your spirit signature... it had so much darkness and sadness in it, and all I wanted was to wash that all away... to make you happy... I'm sorry I couldn't do that...”

 

“You did… Aneilla, every time I was with you, I felt joy, although I refused to allow myself to admit it…”

 

Aneilla smiled and said, “Then I'm glad... Vinc...” Then Aneilla's eyes closed and her breathing became shallower and shallower.

 

“Aneilla!” Vincent cried, pushing himself up and scrambling to the wound in her neck. He activated the restore and held the materia over her wound. “Even if it kills me… Aneilla, I won't let you die…” Then he brought up the last of his strength and, willing himself to heal Aneilla, to keep her alive, he cried out into the storm, “Cure 3!”

 

The materia glowed brightly in his hands and he felt his body draining as the terrible wound began to heal. The last thing he heard was Aneilla inhale sharply before darkness took him over and he collapsed to the side, the materia rolling from his hands. Beside him, Aneilla's still body shuddered and she glowed brightly as she shifted back to her human form.

 

Both fallen warriors lay there perpendicular to each other, in a pool of dragon blood, Vincent's head near Aneilla's stomach and the young Dragon Child, the last of her kind, curled slightly. Both of their hands rested beside each others, as if they were the hands of desperate lovers, trying to reach for the other.